Notes from Havenwood

Hedge trimming, taming tomatoes and other tasks in July

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

🌿 John Lubbock, The Pleasures of Life

Heat, sickness & health

It has been a blazing hot July here in Pennsylvania and 90°F (32°C) is beginning to feel like a normal daily temp. We are having a “real summer,” as our local Amish nurseryman agreed with me, and he too shook his head at the amount of watering that has needed to be done each day. His domesticated Bobwhite Quail were calling their cheerful summer song as I perused his rows of recently doused flats and leaned over to pick out the best Petunias and Angelonia to pop into our Entry Garden, to follow up the early summer flowers.

After our July 4th weekend away, I came home very sick with Covid and it has stuck with me for most of July. The first two weeks were by far the worst, with fever and exhaustion. July is hedge cutting month, but I could not even walk around half of our garden without needing a good sit down, between the heat and the sickness. So instead of being cared for, my garden took care of me.